We design the frame, print the tooling, lay out the boards, write the control software and fly the vehicle ourselves — then take it from the school pool to the MATE ROV World Championship, the International SeaPerch Challenge and the China Robot Competition.
Ranked by the standing achieved rather than by date, and grouped by the level of the competition. Where the team entered a university division, it did so as the only junior secondary entry in the field.
| Standing | Competition | Date |
|---|---|---|
| World championships | ||
| 2nd in the world | International SeaPerch Challenge — Middle School Division Team DeltaX · 210 teams · also 3rd in the mission course | May 2026 |
| 2nd in the world | MATE ROV World Championship — Engineering Presentation Team Mosasaurus · 3.6 points behind first place | Jun 2026 |
| 9th | MATE ROV World Championship — Ranger class, overall 86 teams from 16 countries and regions | Jun 2026 |
| 16th | International SeaPerch Challenge — Middle School Division Team DeltaY · 210 teams | May 2026 |
| National | ||
| First Prize | China Robot Competition — Underwater Operations, university division North China University of Technology, Beijing | Aug 2026 |
| 1st | SeaPerch China Regional Selection — and 2nd, and 3rd All three podium places, from more than 20 teams | Feb 2026 |
| Second Prize | China Robot Competition — Underwater Operations, university division Shijiazhuang · Third Prize also taken · 40+ university teams | Oct 2025 |
| Regional | ||
| Runner-up | IET/MATE ROV Competition — Hong Kong Regional Qualifier for the World Championship | Apr 2026 |
| 1st | Guangzhou–Hong Kong–Macau Exchange — Underwater Robot Event Second place also taken · Pui Ching co-organised and judged | Nov 2025 |
A vehicle goes from a blank sheet to a competition tank without ever leaving the students’ hands — and at MATE it has to arrive with a company built around it.
The underwater robotics team at Fablab Pui Ching (Macau) is run by junior secondary students who take a vehicle all the way from a blank sheet to a competition tank. Structural design, 3D modelling and printing, PCB layout, material selection, waterproofing, machining, control software, tuning and piloting — every part of it is done by the students themselves.
At MATE the team does not simply enter a robot. Alongside the vehicle it has to produce a full technical documentation package, manage a project budget, design its marketing material, and defend the engineering in English before a panel of working ocean engineers.
“It operates as a start-up company — budget, documentation, marketing, and an English defence before working ocean engineers.”Which is why the Engineering Presentation finished 2nd in the world in 2026
Every competition task the team trains for is drawn from real subsea work: mapping and conserving coral, predicting iceberg drift, installing and maintaining offshore power equipment, deploying hydrophones, terminating cables on seabed instruments, and collecting data under ice.
So the engineering is pointed somewhere. The team built a computer-vision model to recognise invasive species, and carries its water-quality instrumentation on a surface platform of its own design. The goal is a practical contribution to marine conservation and to sustainable water resource management — made by students, from Macau.
Different competitions call for very different vehicles: a Ranger-class ROV for MATE, a compact SeaPerch platform for the RoboNation circuit, a manipulator-heavy build for water-operations events, and a surface craft carrying its own water-quality payload.
The team's flagship ROV, rebuilt for the 2026 season. It carries a 360°-rotating manipulator and 3D-printed task tooling designed against the mission list, and runs a YOLO vision model for identifying invasive species.
Small, fast and hand-built for the SeaPerch obstacle and mission courses. The Delta boats are where the youngest members learn buoyancy trim, thruster layout and clean piloting under a clock.
Built for the China Robot Competition's underwater operations event: releasing and installing hydrophones, torquing seabed instrument connectors, terminating cables to the millimetre and throwing switches on the bottom.
A surface craft for ecosystem surveillance. Its surveillance system was redesigned alongside the new hull, keeping the two loosely coupled so they integrate tightly without getting tangled together.
Rapid water-quality testing on board: a 3D-printed sample holder with an LED illuminating two cuvettes, so a reading can be taken without bringing the sample back to a lab.
Every competition of the two seasons, in the same order as the results above — strongest standing first. Each entry carries its full roster.
University of Maryland, USA · 30–31 May 2026 · organised by RoboNation · 210 teams worldwide
Nine students in two teams travelled to the United States. In a field of 210 teams from countries including the USA, China, New Zealand, Kazakhstan, Egypt, Kenya and Puerto Rico, DeltaX took second place in the world in the middle school division and third in the mission course — the highest-placed team from China and the highest-placed team in Asia. DeltaY finished 16th in the world. Both results are school records.
St. John's, Canada · 25–27 June 2026 · 24th edition · 86 teams from 16 countries and regions
Representing Macau, Team Mosasaurus finished 9th in the world among Ranger-class teams, and second in the world in the Engineering Presentation — 3.6 points off first place. Running as a start-up company, the team completed coral ecosystem mapping, subsea observatory maintenance and under-ice data collection in cold water, while producing the technical report, managing the budget, designing the poster and defending all of it in English.
North China University of Technology, Beijing · 21–23 Aug 2026 · hosted by the Chinese Association of Automation
Competing a division up against top university teams from across the country, the students took First Prize. The event is themed on marine survey and extreme subsea work: within a time limit the vehicle had to release and install a hydrophone, screw connectors onto a seabed instrument and terminate its cable precisely, throw switches, and handle loose parts on the bottom.
Beijing · 1–6 Feb 2026 · national selection for the SeaPerch Global Finals · 20+ teams from Beijing, Guangzhou, Macau and Fujian
Four Pui Ching teams entered and the school swept the podium, judged across mission runs, the obstacle course, the technical report and the defence. The camp ran project-based research under the international theme Storm Response: technology in disaster recovery and rescue, and closed with a visit to Peking University.
Shijiazhuang, Hebei · 16–20 Oct 2025 · 40+ university teams · the only all-junior-secondary entry in the field
The team's first run at the university division. Against more than forty university teams, the students placed in the upper half of the field with a Second Prize and a Third Prize — and spent the rest of the event trading notes with teams from across the country. University competitors were struck by both the design of the vehicle and how the students flew it.
Tsing Yi, Hong Kong · 25–26 Apr 2026 · organised by the IET · qualifier for the World Championship
The mission set was built from live ocean engineering problems: iceberg drift prediction, coral conservation research, and the installation and maintenance of offshore power equipment. Team Mosasaurus answered them with a rebuilt vehicle — new 3D-printed tooling, a 360°-rotating manipulator, and a YOLO model for recognising invasive species. The team also lent its ROV to the public at the competition's Fun Day, letting visitors pilot it and explaining how it works.
Guangzhou No.2 Middle School · 22–23 Nov 2025 · hosted by the Guangzhou Municipal Education Bureau, co-organised by Pui Ching
Two teams of S1 students took first and second place in an event whose vehicles had to clear an underwater obstacle run inside a time limit. Pui Ching was also on the other side of the table: a Pui Ching teacher served as chief judge of the event, and S2 and S3 members of the underwater robotics group worked it as judges, registrars and scorekeepers.
Pits and pool decks, hotel-room repairs, mission runs and the occasional podium — from Shijiazhuang and Guangzhou to Beijing, Hong Kong, Maryland and Newfoundland.
Three teachers run the programme; the students do the engineering. Rosters vary by competition — the full line-up for each event is listed in the station log above.
